$300K Income Needed To Buy San Francisco, Peninsula Homes

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A household needs an annual income of more than $300,000 to afford a median priced home in San Francisco or the Peninsula, a new report by the California Association of Realtors finds.

The group released its latest Housing Affordability Index report, which looks at how much a household would need to make to afford a median priced single-family home in each county. The index assumes a homebuyer is putting 20 percent down on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan, with an interest rate of 4.17 percent.

Based on home sales in the 4th quarter of 2017, San Francisco was on the index as the least affordable county in the state. With the median home price at $1.501 million, a prospective homebuyer would need to have a household income of at least $303,000.

People looking for homes on the Peninsula in San Mateo County will not find much relief, either. The group reported that an income of at least $302,890 would be needed to afford the median price home of $1.5 million.

In Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, an income of $256,450 would be needed to afford the median priced home of $1.27 million.

The group found Solano County the most affordable in the Bay Area, where a household earning $83,800 could afford the median priced home of $415,000. More than 4 out of 10 Solano County households had incomes above that threshold.

Statewide, the association found 29 percent of California households could afford a single family home. The median home price in California in the 4th quarter of last year was about $551,000.

Tim Fang is a digital producer for CBS San Francisco and a native of the Bay Area. Follow him on Twitter @fangtj.